The Justice Department placed two D.C.-based federal prosecutors on leave after they filed court papers calling the Jan. 6 Capitol siege a “riot” perpetrated by a “mob,” three sources familiar with the matter told CBS News on Wednesday.
The papers were submitted Tuesday in the case of Taylor Taranto, who was pardoned by President Trump on Capitol riot charges earlier this year but was later convicted of livestreaming a bomb threat. He was arrested in 2023 while livestreaming himself driving around former President Barack Obama’s D.C. neighborhood while armed, according to prosecutors.
The filing — which asked a judge to sentence Taranto to 27 months in prison at a hearing Thursday — mentioned Taranto’s Jan. 6 charges and briefly described the events of that day, writing that “thousands of people comprising a mob of rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol.”
That unsparing description of the Capitol riot was notable, as Mr. Trump has called Jan. 6 a “day of love” and referred to the rioters as “hostages.”
The filing also said Taranto drove to Obama’s neighborhood shortly after Mr. Trump posted the former president’s purported address on Truth Social and Taranto shared the post.
Hours after the sentencing memo was submitted, two prosecutors whose names appear on it were placed on leave, CBS News has confirmed. U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, a former Fox News host and staunch Trump backer, was also listed on the filing.
Then, later Wednesday, a new, shorter sentencing memo appeared in the federal court database with the references to the Jan. 6 riot and Mr. Trump’s post about Obama now omitted. Two different federal prosecutors were listed at the bottom of the filing, along with Pirro.
Pirro said in a statement to CBS News: “While we don’t comment on personnel decisions, we want to make very clear that we take violence and threats of violence against law enforcement, current or former government officials extremely seriously.”
“We have and will continue to vigorously pursue justice against those who commit or threaten violence without regard to the political party of the offender or the target,” she said.
Mr. Trump granted clemency to more than 1,500 accused and convicted Capitol rioters shortly after returning to the Oval Office earlier this year. The near-blanket pardons drew outrage from Democratic lawmakers and pushback from some federal judges who accused the president of downplaying the event and perpetuating a “revisionist myth.”
Taranto is one of several pardon recipients who have faced prosecution for non-Jan. 6 crimes. Earlier this month, a pardoned rioter was charged with allegedly threatening House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Others have been accused of burglary and “raising a firearm at police.”
